Zodiac Senshi
by Ariathel
Summary: A new group of senshi, a new world, new problems, with Rei thrown into the middle of it all. Known as Jade, she must guide the Zodiac Senshi as Luna and Artemis guided the Planetary Senshi, helping them to find their princess before the enemy does first.
1. With Arms Wide Open

Title - With Arms Wide Open  
Rating - PG-13  
4/21/2002  
  
AN: This is the prologue to Zodiac Senshi. Please R&R, tell me what you think...   
  
  
  
~*With Arms Wide Open*~  
  
  
"Serenity! Athena!" Aurora called down the corridor, hands on her hips. She waited for several moments, watching for her friends. Moments later, princess Serenity appeared, breathing heavily. Beside her was Athena, a woman who looked strikingly like her two friends. She was not out of breath, though she looked out of patience.   
  
"Aurora, why did you drag us here? Whatever big secret you've got to show me, it better be worth all this trouble," she said huffily, her eyes flashing. Her sour attitude did nothing to affect the cheerful princess's mood, and she set off once more, this time walking slowly.   
  
After several long minutes, they came upon a door. It was covered in intricately drawn designs that looked like frozen ice, eternally beautiful. The mischievous look on Aurora's features let Serenity and Athena know they had arrived at their destination. Pushing gently, Aurora led the way into a large room, it's round walls much like the door, cut out in several places like crude windows to give a view of the entire Crystal Star kingdom.   
  
"Aurora, it's beautiful!" Serenity exclaimed, flying to a 'window' and leaning out. They were high up, higher than she'd ever been. 'I wish we had towers this high on the Moon Kingdom... But I guess they're what makes Aurora's kingdom so different.' She felt like a bird, her long silver tresses swaying in the chilling breezes of the kingdom. Shutting her eyes, she let the winds caress her face, and she could almost feel the water from the Sea of Serenity, back on her home planet.  
  
Athena leaned out, tears springing to her eyes at the sheer beauty of the kingdom Aurora called home. Everything was white, colorless some would describe it to be. But she could see that it was not drab and pale. The glass-like sea that spread around the palace, it's waters almost invisible, was not lifeless. Though the waters only rippled, its every changing shape gave it a life like no other. Inside the calm waters, brightly colored fishes swam, their bodies like an artist's mural, each individually painted to perfection, not one like another. Beyond the sea were the towns, providing another splash of color against the white land. There was no sun here, only an array of beautiful moons, their individuality like the fish. They held a beauty of their own, and Aurora's mother refused to let the bodies be inhabited, not even giving their beauty a chance to be ruined.  
  
"Isn't it wonderful?" Aurora whispered. She also leaned out a window, smiling as she spread her arms like one of the flying creatures of Earth, the home of Serenity's prince. Arriena, the home of the Crystal Palace and the largest planet in the Crystal Star kingdom, did not have birds. It held fishes, in a great abundance, and other mystical creatures. Some half man half horse, centaurs they were called. They were the equivalent of the canine on Earth, man's best friend. Others, unicorns, were hidden in the forests of Creallia, behind the palace. Aurora, possessing a magical gift with the creatures, could speak their language. They trusted her, and when prince Endymion gave her a gift of a white filly for her sixteenth birthday, little under a year ago, they helped to raise it.  
  
"How did you find this?" Serenity asked as she turned, her eyes open once more. Aurora turned back, and sighed. Her bright blue eyes contrasted with her pale skin, a signature of all habitants of Arriena. The did not need heat to survive, and therefore could exist without a star like the sun to provide for them. Aurora once found it uncomfortable to visit the moon kingdom, but over the past few years, she had become accustomed to its closeness to such a hot star. There were others even bigger, like the star nearest the Golden kingdom, where Athena lived. It burned with an intensity one hundred times greater than that of the sun.  
  
"I was just exploring. I asked mom, and she said that it was built as a getaway. When she first took over as queen, she found it unbearable. So she would sometimes hide away up here, summoning only the things she needed most. She would stay for days at a time, if it suited her. But she never comes here anymore."  
  
"Wow," Serenity whispered. She felt a chill travel the length of her body, and she shivered. Sometimes the stillness and beauty of this place gave her chills. It seemed too perfect to be real. Sometimes it was too quiet.  
  
Aurora, noticing her friends' discomfort, decided to leave the room for the day. The three girls headed back towards the throne room, where one of the many secret doors led to Aurora's room. The three were staying together for a week, and then they would visit the Golden kingdom, and finally the Moon kingdom.   
  
"Hello Serenity, Athena," a warm voice said as they entered the room. "I can see that you've visited the tower. Did you like it?"  
  
Recognizing the voice of Eos, Aurora's mother, Serenity turned to find the queen. Smiling, she nodded. "Yes, she did. It was beautiful!" she complimented, her voice ringing with sincerity. Athena echoed Serenity's opinions, and Eos smiled.  
  
"That is still my favorite room. It's a shame I don't go up as often anymore. It was such a calming place."  
  
She gave the girls a smile, and then shooed them out, having to return to her work. Aurora told the two that her mother was signing a peace treaty and alliance with the Silver Shadow kingdom. As she mentioned the kingdom, she flushed a bright red, producing shrieks from her two friends.  
  
"Did you meet a guy? Tell me! Oh Venus will love to hear this! Aphrodite said she was watching someone special, it could have been you!"   
  
Athena, as equally excited as Serenity, settled down on a chair in Aurora's room and demanded details. Serenity and Aurora sat on her gigantic bed, and then the room fell silent, waiting for Aurora.  
  
"Well, it was a few months ago, by Earth time. Mother was having another of her dances, celebrating a new alliance with two other kingdoms, and I was really steamed... she had set me up with some prince," she began, rolling her eyes. Serenity and Athena nodded, knowing how much Aurora hated being set up. They all detested it, though Serenity had a boyfriend and Athena's mother seemed to have given up, for the time being. "Well I danced with him. Nothing special. And he was a bit pushy," she added as an afterthought. "So we went onto the balcony, and talked for a while. But then I noticed a really cute guy inside. He was sitting at an empty table, looking as bored as I was."  
  
"Well, apparently the prince I'd been set up with got tired of me, and went off to dance with the princess of the Silver Shadow. So I went and said hey to the guy, hoping he would be nicer than the last one. It turns out he was the prince of the Silver Shadow. He and the girl are twins. So we talked, for the entire night. When the party was over, I didn't expect to hear from him again." Athena nodded and rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what made Aurora think that way. After dances between the kingdoms, few guys ever got in touch. They only wanted to 'better their station' by making friends with everybody. "But," she said, grinning devilishly at the two, "the next day, I got flowers, thanking me for being so kind to him and curing his boredom! We've been really good friends ever since," she finished, giddy with excitement.  
  
Athena grinned. "That's so awesome!"  
  
The girls talked over it for half an hour, giggling and naming their dream guys. Serenity fell silent, listening to Aurora and Athena talk about this guy Athena had run into the previous month. She glanced around Aurora's room, and smiled. It reflected the kingdom, being almost completely white with only a few splashes of color here and there. The walls were white, with shelves running around them, about a foot from the ceiling. Crystal figurines adorned the shelves, shaped like everything imaginable.   
  
The Crystal Star was a magical kingdom, its people enchanters and enchantresses. It was rumored that there was a portal to other worlds, but it was hidden somewhere in Creallia. Aurora never spoke of it, but Serenity suspected she knew of its whereabouts. The figures on her shelves seemed unreal. Some she had never seen before, and she knew that even Mercury, the smartest woman in the universe, probably couldn't identify it. There were unicorns, running, galloping, young and old. Centaurs, male and female. An entire community of mermaids, on rocks, with frozen waves crashing against them, their hair blown in a nonexistent wind. Earth creatures, fairies, princesses, anything imaginable.   
  
Along one wall was a desk, littered with paper from Aurora's writings. Like her ancestors, Aurora was known for extreme emotions and thoughts she couldn't hold inside. And so she wrote. Some stories were hauntingly beautiful, like her kingdom. Some were painful, some happy, others just a collection of thoughts. But they were all there, in a stack she never threw away, rarely let anyone read but herself. Serenity sometimes wished she could be as talented as Aurora. Her friend had a gift with the magical creatures, a gift with words, and a natural beauty that made her the envy of many. 'Of course, we do share the same features,' she thought wryly. Whether by some predetermined fate, or chance, Serenity, Aurora, and Athena had been born with the exact same features, save the kingdom's mark. Serenity's was a gold crescent moon, Aurora's was silvery white, and Athena's was a sort of character, in gold.  
  
After a short while, the three girls decided to go to sleep. The next day, they were going to go visit some of the senshi of the Crystal Star kingdom, and then leave for the Golden Kingdom.  
  
  
  
  
  
'Ugh', Aurora thought. 'This lesson couldn't be more boring!'  
  
"Aurora, I know this isn't the most interesting subject, but could you please pay attention?" the tutor said with a sigh as she turned and conjured up several images, droning on some more about the history of Arriena. Sneaking a glance at Taylor, she found her friend stifling a yawn and drawing on her paper. A giggle bubbled in her throat, and she fought to suppress it.   
  
"Okay, girls, we're done for today. Your only homework is to read one of the library books on mythology. Eos left the door unlocked for you," she said, absentmindedly waving the images away with her hand as she gathered her books. Jumping up, Aurora and Taylor quickly left the room, their heads bent together as they talked about Serenity and Endymion, trailed by several other young women, also classmates of Aurora's.  
  
After the books were taken from the library, Taylor and the other girls went home, leaving Aurora alone with her studies. Opening the page, she flipped to the first one and began reading.   
  
  
  
'There will be four strangers, alike in almost every way. The only difference shall be their blood, for they will rule separate kingdoms. They shall fight the darkness with their unceasing light, and will let nothing get in their way, not even Death herself. The stars shall fall silent for two thousand years, until the four can come together and bring peace to the celestial bodies.'  
  
  
  
'That's creepy,' Aurora thought... 'Could we be... them?' she wondered, referring to herself and her two friends. They were alike in every way, except for the kingdoms they ruled. 'Nah.'  
  
"Aurora," a voice called through the air, startling Aurora. She looked up expectantly from her book. Her mother had appeared there, probably using magic to appear in her daughter's room. Her face held such pain, Aurora knew immediately that something was wrong. She didn't form the question, but her eyes gave her away. "There's been a war," Eos said quietly, coming to sit by her daughter's side. "Beryl launched an attack on the Moon Kingdom."  
  
Aurora gasped, and she suddenly felt something ripping from her. The book fell from her hands, and she went deathly pale. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the pain she felt. "Serenity..." she whispered.  
  
Tears filled Eos's eyes as she bit her lip. "I didn't even know, until it was too late. I'm so sorry Aurora, I'm so sorry."  
  
'No... it's not true...' she thought desperately. But the pain she felt told her otherwise. Serenity was gone... dead. 'I didn't even get to say good-bye...'  
  
"Serenity."  
  
  
  
The news spread like wildfire through the stars. Everyone mourned over the loss of Serenity and her mother. The princess had such a future, and now it was destroyed. Selene had also died, but nobody knew why. They found her body, resting on a pillar. She looked peaceful, and so it was presumed she had not been murdered, but died for another reason. The bodies of Serenity, Endymion, and the senshi, as well as all the children of the moon had disappeared too.  
  
However, life went on. Aurora returned to her studies, although her heart was no longer into anything she did. Athena had fled her kingdom and the pitying eyes of the people, and was now staying on the Crystal Star, spending her time in Aurora's quarters. Only Eos and Minerva, Athena's mother, knew of the princess's whereabouts. And so it stayed that way, for a great period of time. But the pain in the two princesses' hearts did not fade, as they had lost more than a friend, they had lost a piece of themselves as well.  
  
  
  
"Aurora," Taylor said quietly, her hand resting on Aurora's shoulder. Aurora gave her a lifeless glance, and she continued. "Jaclyn, Teresa, and I are going shopping, would you like to come?"  
  
Aurora shrugged, and declined the offer. Staying awake through school was taking all the energy she had in her, and she just needed to go home and sleep. Once she had found her way into her bedroom, books dumped carelessly into a corner, she flopped onto the bed.  
  
"I can't cry anymore," she said, knowing Athena could hear her. The girl rarely left the room, just spent her time drawing in the sketchbook she carried with her so often. It had become like Aurora's stories, her outlet. From one drawing she had seen, Aurora knew Athena drew beautiful pictures. Like her stories, a tale in itself, heart wrenching and beautiful. But, like Aurora, Athena let nobody see them, the one Aurora saw had been dropped on accident, and she hadn't known what it was. Athena appeared and sat on the side of Aurora's bed, pencil in one hand and a pad of paper the other.  
  
"Me either... and I know there's something more, but it hurts too much to search. Is it possible that the line of Serenity's not gone?"  
  
Aurora shrugged. She didn't get too deeply into legends and mythology, though she had always wanted to before. Her teacher always got 'sidetracked' when it came to mythology, and somehow they never got past the fact that there were legends. Staring at her ceiling, Aurora let herself fall to sleep. Athena left to get something to eat, and to talk with Eos about the legends.  
  
  
  
She was there... Aurora could see her, she watched as the princess died, tears flowing freely. She didn't know why she was here, why she was seeing this. The horror made her want to curl up and die. She watched as the story unfolded.   
  
Selene didn't want Serenity's life to end, nor the love that she and her prince had to die. And so she sealed them into the ginzuishou, sending them into the future. She fell, her body resting on the pillar, the ginzuishou having drained her of everything she had. Aurora cried, her sobs unheard in the stillness as Selene's life faded from her.   
  
'Why am I here?' she thought.  
  
'Because, I am going to give you another chance too,' a soft voice whispered into her mind, reminding her of silver bells. Whirling, she desperately looked for the speaker, but there was none. 'My daughter will be sent to the future, one thousand years. She and her senshi will be reborn on Earth, having no memory of this time.'  
  
'Oh no...' Aurora whispered, clenching her hands together. 'Please, Selene, send me too, anything. Serenity is a part of me, and without her, I can't live... Even if she never remembers, I still want to be her friend...'  
  
'I have seen the future,' Selene continued as though she hadn't heard Aurora's cry. 'The kingdoms will begin to point fingers. Fighting will break out, in our homes, between friends and families. The future of this Millennium is black. We will destroy ourselves in our hatred and anger, as the delicate link between three of the four has snapped. Aurora, I can do nothing to stop it. But you can. You and the two remaining goddesses are stronger than myself, and should you find it in your heart, you can change everything. Please, find Ceres. Use the star crystal, Aurora, and right this terrible wrong.'   
  
  
  
Aurora sat straight up in her bed, gasping for breath. Her hand came up to feel her pounding heart, and a rustling from across the room startled her. Athena was gasping, moving about in her bed as though she too had had a terrible nightmare.  
  
"Aurora..." her soft voice came, choked with unshed tears. "I had the most horrible dream..."  
  
"I did too," Aurora whispered, and slowly sank back onto the bed. "I think it's real..."  
  
With that, the room was filled with silence. However, neither girl could sleep. Aurora played the dream over and over in her mind. What surprised her was the way it stuck with her. Dreams always slipped away, until only a few details remained. But this one was there to stay. The sweet voice of Selene would haunt her for the rest of her life, however long that would be.  
  
When light filtered in through the lacy white curtains, the two girls got up, silently getting ready for yet another day of life.  
  
  
  
"Mother, where does the princess Aurora live?" a soft voice asked her mother, her eyes filled with tears and pain. Upon receiving the answer to her question, she hurried out of the room, another figure hurried next to her.   
  
"Ceres, is this about that silly dream of yours?" she asked, her voice scolding. Ceres ignored her, instead rushed to the nearest teleporting pad. The girl insisted, and finally Ceres whirled.  
  
"Catherine, please, for once, trust me!" she exclaimed, tugging at her street clothes. "My dream was not silly or frivolous. Even if it amounts to nothing, I must find princess Aurora."  
  
With that, she turned and jogged off, down the great halls of her palace. Tall arches flew several stories high, the walls made of stone. The palace was old, but it still held a mysterious beauty. During the mornings, a thick fog spread through the halls, giving the castle a medieval feel. Ceres sometimes admired the homes of some of her friends, but hers was unlike any other.  
  
"Excuse me, miss, where do you think you're going?" a commanding voice came. Ceres groaned and slowed down, turning to face the guard that obviously didn't recognize her.  
  
"It's me, Ceres. I want to get to the Crystal Star kingdom," she said in a rush. The guard shook his head.  
  
"I'm sorry, but nobody can get anywhere. A war's brewing, and nobody's safe. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here."  
  
Ceres stood, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe his words, it was too soon. Serenity had only died a year ago... "I must go, that's why I have to find princess Aurora!" she protested, but he refused to allow her into the room. Finally she backed off, slowly trudging down the hall.   
  
'What can I do? I could try to contact her... but all connections with kingdoms outside the alliance have been cut...'  
  
  
The screams horrified her. Aurora no longer left the palace, for the common people's pleas for help pained her almost as badly as Serenity's death, three years ago. She could do nothing, as her magical powers were slowly ebbing away, like the tides of the Sea of Serenity, or the beautiful oceans of Earth. The star crystal was now in her possession, but she could not make use of it, as its power seemed to also be deserting her.  
  
However, the safety of the palace meant nothing anymore. The enemies were inside now, and it was a few short minutes before they reached the throne room. Eos was calm and collected, having known this day would come. Aurora was dressed as a simple maidservant, the star crystal on a chain around her neck. Eos had ordered her to take the crystal, and go find Ceres and Athena, and do as Selene had explained.   
  
Eos had finally explained why the ancient myths and legends were never taught to her. Aurora was a legend herself, and she was to not know until the link was broken. And so the story folded out, and she knew what she had to do.  
  
A loud bang startled her out of her thoughts, and her eyes focused on the door. Suddenly Eos was hit with a wave of premonition, and suddenly she understood that Aurora would not make it alive.   
  
"Aurora, leave now. Go straight to the teleporting room and teleport to the Moon Kingdom. Ceres and Athena wait for you. Do not come back here, for I will be gone."  
  
It only took a moment for Aurora to be off and running through the secret door she had used so often when playing hide and seek with her friends. Shutting it behind her, she whispered her fiercest spell to seal the door against invaders. She whirled, searching for the right one. She had traveled each passage so many times, she could get to the teleporting room with her eyes shut. Taking the door on her right, she also turned to seal it with a spell, hoping to God she would make it.  
  
She took off running, rolling her feet so her shoes would not create noise. She came to a fork and took the left route, turning and hiding it from view by shrinking the entrance to the size of a mouse hole. A clever trick she used so often as a child when she wanted to be alone.   
  
Suddenly a great bang was heard through the passages, and she shuddered, knowing they were following her. She prayed as she ran that Eos's death would be swift. She wanted to stay, but the only way Eos could live on, as well as the rest of the universe, was if she could get to the other two. Running faster, she hoped they would miss her route. One more turn, and she knew she'd be there. Sure enough, she saw the faint outline of the door, and gently pushed. The room was empty, much to her relief.  
  
Stepping up to the controls, her fingers flew furiously over the pad, in a desperate attempt to finish before her pursuers found her. Finally the middle one lit up, and Aurora let out a shuddering breath of relief. At that moment, the door flew open with a bang. A menacing face appeared, his eyes searching for the princess.   
  
"Not today, bastard," she said as her fist crashed onto the final key, and she darted to the pad, muttering a destroying spell. As she   
stepped into the light, the men dove for the controls, just as she felt the magic sweep through her. As the room disappeared from her view, she destroyed the keys so they could not follow her.   
  
She saw her home for the last time as she sped through space, and promised to come back some day, to bring the glory and beauty back to her kingdom.  
  
"Aurora!" a voice called as she hit the ground. Blinking once, she looked around, her eyes resting on two young women. Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to tell them apart. Ceres looked exactly like Athena, who in turn looked like Aurora and Serenity. Tears filled her eyes as she stood. The rumbling of a spaceship hurried her as she stood, grabbing the two girls' hands.   
  
"Let's do this!" she cried.  
  
They all bowed their heads, hands gripping one another's tightly. A light seemed to form between the three, reflecting on her closed eyelids. She drew in a deep breath, knowing in her heart that she and Serenity were the strongest in the circle of four, and began what her heart told her was right.  
  
"I call upon the power of the star crystal, the golden crystal, the silver crystal, and the ginzuishou." A tingling power spread through her, and the light grew brighter. Still she didn't open her eyes. A hand was laid on her shoulder, and tears sprang to her shut eyes, stinging her eyelids.  
  
"Please," Serenity's voice came softly, as though she weren't really there. "Let us start over. Please guide the children to a new future on Earth. Let us not remember our lifetime here, but send us guardians, that we may rise once more and protect our home."  
  
"Sleep," Athena whispered. "This generation shall sleep, until it is safe to live once more, in the happiness and peace that used to be here."  
  
"Let the hate end," came the voice of Ceres. "Let those who have died at the hands of war sleep in this black world until all things are right once more, their lifeless bodies once more alive."  
  
Aurora finally opened her eyes, and lifted her head. She gaped in wonder as she found the four crystals in the center of the circle, Serenity now joined among them, her body whole and alive once more. But what startled her more was that there seemed to be a shield of some sort over them, gathered by the senshi. A colorful ring was around them, the senshi of the four goddesses, joined together, hand in hand. Some, Aurora recognized, and some she didn't.  
  
The light then began to spread, slowly at first. It encompassed first the four princesses, then their senshi. It grew, until the entire universe was bathed in the great white light.  
  
And then in one moment, it was all gone. Everything ended, and everything began. And the four goddesses embraced their second chance, with arms wide open.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Yay! :-) Hope you liked.  
  
~*Lindsay 


	2. Road Trip

Author: Lindsay  
Title: Road Trip  
Rating: PG-13 (for later chapters)  
AN: Yeah this is INCREDIBLY short. Maybe chapter 2 will be better...  
  
  
"I think we need to spread out," Usagi said quietly. "Who we are has been founded on each other, on our senshi duties. While our fight has halted for several years, I think we need this opportunity to find ourselves, because there won't be this opportunity once I reign."  
"I agree," Minako whispered, her eyes pooling with tears of sadness despite her unwavering voice. "I know I don't want to, but I do think it's for the best."  
"You're agreeing with her?" Makoto cried. "We belong together. You're my best friends, what will I do without you? And how will we train to defeat this new enemy?"  
Usagi sighed. "We will not. There are three other groups of senshi. Eternal Planetary, Zodiac, Eternal Zodiac. I need three of you to find them, and help them train for this war. It is their turn to fight, and in order to resurrect the universe, I need them. I, though I am strongest, cannot do it alone. Without them, everything we've done will be for nothing. Rei, you will find the Zodiac senshi. Makoto, I need you to find the Eternal Zodiacs, and Minako, can you find the Eternal Planetary?"  
"Hai," Rei nodded. The meeting went on for a while longer, a bit more arguing ensued, but the girls knew Usagi meant what she said. They needed time apart, to find themselves. And so after that meeting, Usagi and Mamoru moved north. Ami remained in Tokyo, while Minako, Rei, and Makoto seemingly spread out, and one by one, migrated to America, where they would begin searching for the senshi.  
  
  
  
"Let us start over. Please guide the children to a new future on Earth. Let us not remember our lifetime here, but send us guardians, that we may rise once more and protect our home..."  
  
Those words had haunted her since birth. The black-haired, violet-eyed beauty her mother named Jaclyn, grew up around those words. Throughout kindergarten, she drew pictures of princesses in white, and soldiers in small sailor outfits. In first and second grade, her original sentences all, in some way, tied in princesses, and soldiers, and kingdoms. By third grade, she was a sort of outcast, but too young to understand why. In fourth, she came to realize that it was her obsession with something she had always known to be true. She quit speaking of it, quit thinking of it, and by the end of fifth grade, she had entered the ranks of the popular, and only remembered the reason for her hidden obsession only if she thought of it.  
She and her father lived on a farm in southern California, where the weather was always beautiful and Jaclyn could take her horse, Innocent Goddess, along the beach. Jaclyn often showed, but never had her heart into the event. Even though she forgot about the voice of her dreams, she still searched for its meaning. She researched the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, finding only the tip of the iceberg in her studies. She never gave up hope though, often wondering where her curiosity came from.  
  
"Okay, seriously, you should enter!" Britney said as the two girls walked down the hallway, their books held in front of them. Jaclyn's long jet-black hair fell to her waist, her lavender eyes holding exasperation in their depths. Britney had done this many times, entering a show and then taking Jaclyn on a guilt trip by saying that she entered just so Jaclyn could take Goddess in the second stall in the trailor Britney owned.  
"Why?" she asked as they rounded the corner to their lockers. Britney flung her blonde curls behind her shoulder, rolling her sparkling blue eyes.   
"Why not? Goddess is more than ready, and you need to get back into showing! You're free that day, an we have extra room in our trailor. Please?" she pleaded, stopping to look her friend in the eyes. Jaclyn sighed, not wanting to. She knew, however, that her best friend would bother her until the day of the competition if she didn't join. Jaclyn didn't have the heart to tell her no.  
"I'll think about it," she promised. Britney sighed and turned, twisting the dial on her locker. Upon reaching the third number, she pulled up on the handle and jerked it open. Pictures of herself and Jaclyn, along with several other friends were plastered all over the wall, along with a mirror, magnetic words and letters, and a note from her boyfriend.  
Jaclyn kicked the bottom of her locker, knowing it would swing open. She didn't keep anything of value in the locker, knowing that it could get stolen. After putting her binder and book inside, she shut it, waiting for Britney. The blonde was always messy, and it took her at least two minutes to find things in there.   
"Stupid locker. Why can't they be bigger?" she grumbled. Jaclyn laughed as Britney finally slammed the locker shut, two dollars in her hand triumphantly.   
"Ready?" Jaclyn asked, amused. Britney nodded, leading the way into the lunch room. Jaclyn wrinkled her nose at the smell of school lunch, forcing herself not to think about it. As Britney bought her lunch, the two talked about the show, Britney trying to persuade her friend to enter. As they sat down at their usual table, Jaclyn found herself relieved to be drawn into a conversation with a brunette named Clarissa about one of their teachers.  
  
"How was school today?" Jaclyn's father asked when she got home.   
"Fine," Jaclyn responded, walking into the kitchen to make a sandwich. Her father followed her.  
"How are you doing in your classes?"  
"Fine," Jaclyn repeated. He sighed and left the room, another attempt at conversing with Jaclyn refuted. He had screwed up a year and a half before, having an affair with someone from work. Jaclyn, who loved her mother, despised her father for being so selfish, but mostly kept her feelings to herself. Two months ago, however, Jaclyn's mother had to leave. She couldn't stay in the house, and couldn't take the fifteen year old with her. Jaclyn understood her need to get away, helping her mother leave one weekend. Aria was always a free spirit, and when the pain became too much, she ran. Jaclyn took after her mother, and had attempted to run away a month ago, but had been caught and returned home.  
Jaclyn decided not to try again, realizing how stupid it was. She had the money saved up to help her start off, but she didn't want to spend her life working at McDonald's because she didn't finish high school.   
"Jaclyn," her father said, leaning on the wall. "You know, your sixteenth birthday is coming up. I was wondering if you had anything in mind."  
"No," she said as she threw the knife into the dishwasher, walking up to her room. She knew her father wanted to make things up to her, but Jaclyn knew in her heart that she could never forgive him. It had been a year-long affair, not just a one night stand. He'd had his chance, and he blew it.  
"Well, think about it. I'm going to Austria for business for three months, and I'm leaving tomorrow. We'll celebrate when I get back," he called after her retreating back, sighing when she didn't respond. 'She doesn't even care that I'm going.'  
Sitting at her computer desk, Jaclyn hit the 'up' arrow a few times, waiting for the black screen to softly click to life. When her desktop came to life, she found an instant message from this girl she'd met in a chat room.  
  
Jade Princess18: You there?  
Aries Goddess04: Yeah, hey what's up?  
Jade Princess18: Hey not much... how was school?  
Aries Goddess04: Ugh. Bo-oringgggggggggg...  
Jade Princess18: I feel your pain...  
Jade Princess18: What are you doing about that show?  
Aries Goddess04: *sigh* I dunno... Britney wants me to go  
Jade Princess18: Are you going to?  
Aries Goddess04: I don't think so... hey when were we going to get together?  
Jade Princess18: I'm not sure. But I have a feeling we'll be able to meet soon  
Aries Goddess04: Good.  
Aries Goddess04: Oh my gosh, I was looking up information yesterday, and guess what I found  
Jade Princess18: What?  
Aries Goddess04: Someone has this entire webpage dedicated to what they call the Moon Kingdom... it's pretty strange, but they insist that there really was a kingdom on the moon, and that there was a princess and a queen and stuff.  
Jade Princess18: ...  
Jade Princess18: strange  
Aries Goddess04: I know. But I'm hoping to find more. There's not much. A few sightings of what these people call 'senshi', but nobody says where exactly. Always Japan. I think senshi means warrior, or fighter.  
Jade Princess18: Soldier...  
Aries Goddess04: ... how do you know that?  
Jade Princess18: I'm Japanese  
Aries Goddess04: ... oh  
  
Jaclyn shut the window, loading up Google and typing in "senshi". She came up with a few sites, and clicked on the first one. Ten minutes later, another message from Jade popped up.  
  
Jade Princess18: Oh hey, I just got my flight information. Looks like the only time I can fly to California is tomorrow afternoon... is that okay?  
Aries Goddess04: Sure! What time do you land?  
Jade Princess18: 5  
Aries Goddess04: Haha cool. I'll come pick you up after school. What flight?  
Jade Princess18: Delta International  
Aries Goddess04: Awesome. I'll be there about 5:30, so take your time, get food. You can stay here.  
Jade Princess18: Cool. Hey I gotta go... got a date with my friends. Later Jac  
Aries Goddess04: Later Jade.  
*Jade Princess18 has signed off*  
  
Jaclyn grinned, twirling in her chair a few times, then grimaced as she began to feel a bit nauseous. 'Awesome!'  
  
'Ah I should've asked for a picture,' Rei thought as she sat in the wind. Luna said that the girl would look like Rei, but she doubted that. Finally when a red suburban drove up and stopped, Rei stood, getting a look inside. Though the windows were tinted, she had a feeling this was Jaclyn. She drew in a breath, pulling her skirt down as the girl jumped out and hurried around the car. Rei felt her mouth drop open when the girl smiled and walked over, pulling off her sunglasses. 'She's exactly like me!' Rei snapped it shut.  
Suddenly Jaclyn stopped, her eyes drifting up and down her friend. She also gaped, slowly walking over. The two had even worn the exact same outfits. Jaclyn was in a black leather skirt with a fire red halter top under a black sweater jacket, with black boots on her feet. The only difference was that Jade's skirt was a bit shorter and Jaclyn's sweater jacket was down to her knees, while Rei's dropped below the hips.  
"Jade?" Jaclyn asked, and Rei nodded, smiling. 'Hmm... Jade. I like that. I wonder where he is...' Though this was a mission to find the Zodiacs on the surface, inside this was also a mission to find Jadeite.   
"And you're Jaclyn, I guess." The girl nodded, grabbing one of the suitcases while Jade grabbed the other. The two put them in the back of Jaclyn's Jeep, still silent. 'Yeah, she's definately Aries all right. But what about finding the others?' she thought as she climbed into the passenger side.   
"So how was your flight?" Jaclyn asked politely, feeling stupid. She suddenly couldn't think of anything to say. All she could think about was the fact that this girl looked exactly like she did.   
"Good. So does your father know I'm coming?"  
"Nah. He's in Austria for three months," Jaclyn commented with a laugh. "He doesn't care very much. Sometimes he pretends to, but that's rare."  
  
"You can sleep on the trundle bed," Jaclyn said as she pulled it out, Jade watching with interest. Jaclyn flipped the tabs and the bed sprang up. "Just use those drawers there for your stuff. How long are you staying anyway?"   
"I have no ticket home yet. I figured I'll stay as long as you'd like me to, then probably take a road trip around the country."  
"Cool."  
  
"What's this I hear about you selling Goddess?" Britney asked on the last day of school, two weeks after Jade came. While Jaclyn was in school, Jade drove around town.  
"I sold her," Jaclyn said as she threw her papers into the trash can by her locker. Britney stopped, dropping everything onto the floor.  
"What?" she asked incredulously. She watched as Jaclyn continued to throw away papers, her voice dead serious. She bent over to retrieve her things, throwing them away. "I can't believe you sold her."  
"I have no reason to keep her. I don't show anymore," she said, tossing some pencils into her backpack.  
"I can't believe it," Britney repeated, shutting her locker door. "Well, I guess it's time to go. I'll see you soon, kay?"  
Jaclyn nodded. "Later."  
  
"Hey how are you," Usagi said into the phone, smiling. Rei grinned.  
"I'm great. Jaclyn's doing good. She's beginning to regain some things. Not memory, I doubt she'll regain that on her own," she said as she took a bite of the salad she was eating at a park. "But she's preparing unconsciously. She keeps getting money, though how, I'm not asking. But she's recieving some of her inheritance from the Silver Millennium. And she sold her horse, and she seems to be detatching herself from her other friends."  
"That's good," Usagi said, smiling at Mamoru from the other end of the line. "Well, you hurry up and bring those girls home, so you can come back. I hate not living together anymore."   
"Yeah... well, ja ne," Rei said, and hung up.  
  
"Jaclyn," her father said, entering the house. He smiled at the raven-haired girl before him, then took in her outfit. A tiny, fire red dress was all she wore, acompanied only by her favorite combat boots and fishnets, Rick made the same mistake everyone else did, and mistook Jade for his own daughter. He began yelling at her for the clothes she wore. Jade looked a bit shaken as she began to back away, only to have him grip her arm.  
"Let go," she commanded.  
"Young lady, you take that off this instant!" he ordered, and Jaclyn, who had heard the commotion, entered the room. She came to stand beside her friend, her father not noticing her until she stopped moving.  
"Let go of her dad. This is Jade, a friend of mine."  
"What the..." he said, his voice trailing off, noticing his daughter in an outfit exactly like Rei's. "Where did you come from, Jade...?"  
"Hino," Jade supplied. "I'm from Japan. Jaclyn and I met online, and I came to visit three months ago. I'm staying with her."  
Jaclyn winced as he turned to her, fury gathering in his eyes. 'Obviously he changed in Austria...'  
"Excuse me," he said, grabbing Jaclyn by the arm and jerking her into his room. First off, his hand connected with her cheek, leaving a red handprint. "What do you think you're doing? I trust you alone, and you invite someone you don't know into our home? What have I taught you, young lady?"  
Jaclyn raised a hand to her cheek, rage boiling inside. "Don't ever touch me again," she hissed, backing out of range. "You want to know what you've taught me? Dishonesty. Hate. Anger. Care to hear more?"  
"Don't you dare be disrespectful to me," he commanded, his voice raising. "You will respect me from now on. I'm tired of your shit, so grow up and stop acting like your mother. Now go and get out of those clothes, and find somewhere for your friend to go because she's not staying here."  
Jaclyn decided that it would be stupid to hit him, as he was quite large, larger than her. She decided to play on the one thing that always shut him up. "You have to earn your respect. You lost all the respect I had for you the day you slept with that other woman. Now don't touch me."  
He grew red in the face and lashed out and grabbed her arm, gripping it tightly. Within a few seconds, her arm was numb. She tried to jerk away, but he held too tightly. "Don't ever talk to me like that. I'll do as I please."  
He abruptly let go of her, and she flew without second thought, tears gathering in her eyes. Jade was waiting in her room, and looked quite shaken. Jaclyn ran to her closet and pulled out Jade's suitcases, as well as a few of her own from her previous attempt to run away. As she did, the sound of the front door slamming made the two jump.  
"Where should I go?" Jade asked, praying to kami that she and Jaclyn would be able to finally set off. The fury and terror in Jaclyn's eyes let her know that the girl had finally severed all ties, and was more than ready for the long journey ahead of them.  
"We. We shall go wherever we please," Jaclyn said, walking swiftly to her drawer. "He's most likely going to get drunk. We have until about midnight, so hurry up and put whatever you want in the suitcases, mine or yours."  
She walked to the drawer, jerking it out completely and dropping it on her bed. Reaching into it, she produced a small can, glancing inside and smiling in satasfaction. "Bingo. We're set." Flashing the contents of the can to Jade, she grinned. The entire inside was stuffed with dollar bills in a large circle, crammed so tightly it would be hard to fit more in. "My mom has a lot of money. She sends it to make up for not being here, I think."  
  
"So... are we going through with this?" Jade asked as Jaclyn shut her last drawer. The two looked at the suitcases on the bed, sighing. There were quite a few, considering how much the two had combined. Jade had also recieved a bit of her inheritance as heir to the throne of Mars, and upon arriving in America, loved the style and freedom. She and Jaclyn shared the same taste in everything, from clothes to food. They shared outfits, and what was to be taken with them, both of them wanted.   
"Yeah. I'm sick of it, and with just the two of us, I was happier than I've ever been. I just have to make a few phone calls, and we're set."  
Half an hour later, their suitcases were loaded, the room cleaned up a bit, and a note written to Jaclyn's father. Jaclyn decided to set him off guard, saying that she and Jade were going to drive up to Jade's other friend's place, and spend a few days there. That gave them at least a week before Jaclyn's father got suspicious and started looking for them.  
Jade drew in a deep breath as the two pulled from the curb and sighed. 'Why must things be so hard?' she thought, watching Jaclyn out of the corner of her eye. The girl didn't even look back, simply staring straight ahead. Her first destination was Las Vegas, using two fake ID's she'd acquired for herself and Jade.   
"So what are we going to do about money?" Jade asked absently. She had a lot, more than most Americans combined, waiting for her in a bank account back in Japan.   
"My mother. Arianne can find her. That's her mother, my grandmother. I call her Arianne. But she knows where my mom is, even if she won't tell me. She sends me the money mom gives me, because mom can't send it or dad'll burn it or something. Or steal it."  
"Wow," Jade murmured, reaching for her purse. Inside rested Jaclyn's henshin charm, a silver necklace with the sign of Ares in flaming red. For five minutes, Jade debated whether or not to give it to Jaclyn, then decided to wait. 'Not now.'  
  
~*Linds 


End file.
